Boys' XC Athlete of the Year: Colin Tierney

COLIN TIERNEY

Posted
Tuesday, June 24, 2014 1:00 pm

Regardless of what happened on Nov. 3, Colin Tierney would have had nothing but great memories from his time in the Bishop Hendricken cross country program. When he and the Hawks raised the trophy on Nov. 3, it meant his career was pretty much perfect.

Tierney won the individual championship at the state cross country meet and his Hawks held off a hard-charging La Salle team to win their sixth consecutive team title. Tierney has been part of the last four – a four-year career out of a storybook.

“It felt great,” Tierney said. “I’ve been lucky enough to win four state championships. It felt great to top it off. It was almost a rebuilding year, but we were able to pull through it.”

Tierney led the way. For three years, he’d been a key part of deep teams. Sometimes he set the pace; other times he ran second or third for the Hawks. In Tierney’s sophomore and junior seasons, Hendricken won state and New England championships.

As a senior, Tierney had no choice but to set the pace. The team around him was inexperienced and young. And with La Salle lurking, they had work to do.

“We had to overcome La Salle,” Tierney said. “All summer, we heard that La Salle was going to win it.”

Tierney won his first individual championship in 15:49.01. He finished five seconds ahead of La Salle’s Jack Salisbury, and that fact was just as important to Tierney as the trophy itself. The Hawks ended up beating La Salle by five points to win the title.

“Scoring one point for the team was kind of the goal from the start,” he said.

Tierney went on to big seasons in indoor and outdoor track, and he’s already preparing to run at Columbia University in the fall.